He ended the event on a small high, by setting the pace in the last stage and was philosophical about missing out on what could have been his maiden win in the WRC.

"It has been a very good rally. It was very hard for the tyres. The car was good. Today was better for us, but our bad luck dropped us to the sixth place. That's life," he noted.

Britain's Matthew Wilson came in sixth, his only real problem in SS3 when a broken prop-shaft cost him around 45 seconds. It was his third points' finish of the season and in total he managed twelve top-ten times.

"It was very rough compared to last year's event and very difficult for the cars. For us, everything went OK, we had no major problems. I am satisfied to have survived from this rally, it has been tough," said the Stobart Man. "This is my first point finish in Greece and I am glad about it."

BP Ford Abu Dhabi's Jari-Matti Latvala was seventh, the Finn losing time in the final stage on day one, like Hirvonen, with suspension damage, and while he tried to fight back turbo problems on Saturday afternoon cost him eight minutes.

"Our speed was OK, but the result was not what I expected at the beginning of the rally," he admitted. "We faced problems on Friday and yesterday. I also made a mistake at the shakedown. It has been tough. In general, I like the Acropolis Rally, but this year it was too rough."

Henning Solberg rounded out the points' scorers in eighth and the Norwegian was none-to-pleased to see his podium hopes vanish at the end due to an electrical problem.

"I'm very disappointed with dropping those places today after working so hard throughout the rally," he noted. "We concentrated on taking care of the car and preserving the tyres but still managed to put in some good times and I was delighted last night to have reached third position. But these things happen and although I am not very happy we will go to Turkey with a good feeling."

Of the rest Suzuki duo Toni Gardemeister and Per-Gunnar Andersson finished ninth and eleventh, sandwiching the C4 WRC of Conrad Rautenbach. While both SX4 WRC had issues and P-G only finished having re-started under the SupeRally, they both claimed manufacturers' points for the Japanese manufacturer and gave the team its first 1-2 finish.

Khalid Al-Qassimi and Federico Villagra were the only other 'works' drivers to finish, in twelfth and thirteenth, the latter had been looking good to get more points for the Munchi's squad until he was forced out with suspension problems in SS11 on day two.